Premium caches

[GEOL1]

Hello,

 

we are considering taking a premium membership, but we are not completely convinced yet.

Is there a possibility to see if there are many premium caches in your region before becoming a premium member?

 

We are mainly doing geocaching in our neighbourhood. 

So if there are only a small amount of caches nearby, the premium membership will not be beneficial for us.

 

Thanks

 

Team GEOL1

[+cerberus1]

On 2/24/2021 at 4:26 AM, GEOL1 said:

we are considering taking a premium membership, but we are not completely convinced yet.

Is there a possibility to see if there are many premium caches in your region before becoming a premium member?

We are mainly doing geocaching in our neighbourhood. 

So if there are only a small amount of caches nearby, the premium membership will not be beneficial for us.

 

I agree, maybe it isn't.         

If I was going to average ten caches a year,  I'd simply load caches manually from the website (and still do that today...).

If you weren't a PM earlier, you obviously have used the website to load caches above 2 in terrain/difficulty.   

If you weren't a PM earlier,  you can EMAIL GEOCACHING HQ for a free temp membership.  IIRC it's good for a week, so prepare.

Most phones today are pretty-much the same as any handheld, so finding "neighborhood" caches should be fine with the app too.

 

 

 

[+Max and 99]

On 2/24/2021 at 3:26 AM, GEOL1 said:

Hello,

 

we are considering taking a premium membership, but we are not completely convinced yet.

Is there a possibility to see if there are many premium caches in your region before becoming a premium member?

 

We are mainly doing geocaching in our neighbourhood. 

So if there are only a small amount of caches nearby, the premium membership will not be beneficial for us.

 

Thanks

 

Team GEOL1

Yes. This is what a regular member sees on the map in the app.

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Max and 99

[yrcko]

As a basic member you can see all caches including Premium in the search list on the PC. You get distance and rough direction, but no additional data and no listing. But it will help you to estimate the number of caches in your neighbourhood.

Edited March 3, 2021 by yrcko

[Blue Square Thing]

2 minutes ago, yrcko said:

As a basic member you can see all caches including Premium in the search list. You get distance and rough direction, but no additional data and no listing. But it will help you to estimate the number of caches in your neighbourhood.

If you click the "Find: ...all nearby caches" link at the bottom of the cache page (by the thumbnail map) you can also get the size, D/T and when the cache was placed and last found. The formatting of the list is also, to my mind, easier to read. For example, for the caches close to the OPs last find: https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=50.926433&lng=5.538900

 

A Project GC Map Compare search will also get you similar information, although the list won't show you which caches are premium (you can do that by using a custom filter to limit the search, although that's a paid for option in Project GC)

[GEOL1]

@Max and 99 Did you select a specifc setting for this map? On my map, I only see the "coloured" caches and not the "grey" ones.

 

[+ecanderson]

Throw us some approximate coordinates for your area and we'll look to see what we see from our end.

Since you're only finding 5-10 per year, it may well not be worth it, but if you want to keep finding them 'in close', a few more may pop up.

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by ecanderson

[+justintim1999]

I'm lucky.  There are plenty of caches in my area I can find with the free account.    Some may argue that premium only caches are typically of higher quality and are maintained better.  I'm up in the air on that one.   I'd consider a premium membership if the number of them in my area was worth it.  

 

I enjoy the hike and the locations so the quality of the cache (or lack of it) is secondary to me.   

 

I have nothing against premium only caches but I myself would never hide one. 

 

I choose to be a premium member as a way to support Geocaching in general.  

[+Ari224]

On 3/2/2021 at 8:58 AM, Max and 99 said:

Yes. This is what a regular member sees on the map in the app.

 

My friend has a regular account and the map shows up like the picture above. When I compared it to my map the premium only caches did not show up at all, they were not even grey. The grey ones only represent caches that are not premium and are above terrain/difficulty 2. They do not show up on the website map either. I did not try the ‘see all nearby caches’ thing.

[Johannis10]

On 3/3/2021 at 3:55 PM, yrcko said:

As a basic member you can see all caches including Premium in the search list on the PC. You get distance and rough direction, but no additional data and no listing. But it will help you to estimate the number of caches in your neighbourhood.

As a basic member you will see a list like the example from my home zone. Just use your home coordinates or your village name to search. In my example it's just one premium member cache with 1FP. All others in the selected area are free and have much more FP's on average. No need to be PM in that area, because of the caches. But maybe there are other reasons to be PM, or other areas, with more PM-Caches. The first gray cache is disabled, and not a PMO Cache. The second gray cache is a PMO-cache.

Greetings Johannis10

Edited April 22, 2021 by Johannis10

[+Kimopo]

I am wondering such also... I am a premium member since years and my friend and her husband were here last weekend and picked geocaching up again after a few years not playing.

So I gave her a membership for gift but her husband only started his own account last week and is still basic member.

 

Now of course he joined us on the way to several caches and knew he couldn't log premium caches but, it appears he also can't log some others like a regular and a virtual, they remained grey on his listing map and we're wondering if that's restricted to premium members only also.

Those caches don't have the "premium only" mentioning on the site like some of them have.

 

Any explanation is welcome so I can tell him.

 

Mar aka kimopo

 

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Kimopo

[+TriciaG]

30 minutes ago, Kimopo said:

I am wondering such also... I am a premium member since years and my friend and her husband were here last weekend and picked geocaching up again after a few years not playing.

So I gave her a membership for gift but her husband only started his own account last week and is still basic member.

 

Now of course he joined us on the way to several caches and knew he couldn't log premium caches but, it appears he also can't log some others like a regular and a virtual, they remained grey on his listing map and we're wondering if that's restricted to premium members only also.

Those caches don't have the "premium only" mentioning on the site like some of them have.

 

Any explanation is welcome so I can tell him.

 

Mar aka kimopo

These are caches hidden on the official app, but using any other app (or the website) will show these caches. They put a restriction on the app for basic members.

[Keystone]

When using the official Geocaching Apps, there are three types of caches:

1. Caches available to everyone
2. "Advanced Caches" that are not available to Basic members using the App, but are available on the Geocaching.com Website
3. "Premium Member Only" caches, for which the cache pages are not viewable by Basic members on either the App or the Website.

See this Help Center article for details on the differences in features for Basic and Premium Members.

 

Note that the restriction relates to viewing cache pages.  A Basic member is free to log a find on a Premium Member Only cache that they found and  where they signed the log.

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, Kimopo said:

I am wondering such also... I am a premium member since years and my friend and her husband were here last weekend and picked geocaching up again after a few years not playing.

So I gave her a membership for gift but her husband only started his own account last week and is still basic member.

 

Now of course he joined us on the way to several caches and knew he couldn't log premium caches but, it appears he also can't log some others like a regular and a virtual, they remained grey on his listing map and we're wondering if that's restricted to premium members only also.

Those caches don't have the "premium only" mentioning on the site like some of them have.

 

Any explanation is welcome so I can tell him.

 

Mar aka kimopo

 

 

 

It may be that the husband is using The App instead of the web site and a handheld hiking GPSr, where all but PMO caches are displayed to basic members.  The App is designed so that people can verify that it works on their phone, and they can go find a displayed cache, before paying for a membership (and a person who only occasionally finds a cache or two may choose to pay nothing, and they do OK).  Usually, families who cache together don't pay for Premium Membership for all family members.  In any case, all caches may be logged by a Basic member as mentioned in the Forums.

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by kunarion